The invention relates to a raised woven fabric of a combination weave having a surface covered with raised extra fine fibers and having a suede-like touch, appearance and feel, and to a process for the preparation thereof.
As raised woven fabrics having extra fine fibers used therein and having a suede-like appearance and feel, there has heretofore been known: raised woven fabrics comprising a spun yarn of an extra fine fiber bundle used as weft and a spun yarn of an ordinary fineness used as warp, and; raised woven fabrics comprising a spun yarn of an extra fine fiber bundle used as weft and a textured multifilament yarn of an ordinary fineness used as warp (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,678).
These conventional raised woven fabrics have some excellent features as a suede-like fabric, which are not limited to the features due to the spun yarn consisting of short-cut staples made from an extra fine fiber bundle employed in the fabric. However, they have the following drawbacks as a fabric and in the preparation thereof.
(1) The commercial value of the product becomes low, because of the appearance of fuzz on the reverse side thereof. PA1 (2) The use of the product is limited, because the used short-cut staples tend to produce naps of cut fibers but not looped fibers. PA1 (3) The raised fibers tend to fall out and to produce pills, because the length of the fibers is short. Thus, the fabric requires a large amount of an anti-pilling agent. PA1 (4) The surface appearance is not flat due to twist irregularity, naps, knots and yarn unevenness which are natural to spun yarns. PA1 (5) The fineness of a spun yarn is limited and, thus, sheer fabrics can not be made. PA1 (6) The bending direction of the raised fibers easily yields and, thus, raised fibers having opposite bending direction tend to be produced, particularly when an anti-pilling agent is used. PA1 (7) In the case where a yarn of a fiber bundle from an islands-in-sea type composite fiber is used, fiber bundle cleavage, card wasting, tube clogging in drawing, helices, yarn unevenness and yarn breakage occur and necessitate complicated manual operations and, further, necessitate the mending of intermediate and final products. PA1 (8) In the case where a yarn of a bundle of an islands-in-sea type composite fibers is used, the extra fine fibers easily fall out upon the removal of the sea component. PA1 (9) Extra fine fibers easily fall out upon raising. PA1 (10) The naps of raised fibers are not uniform in length and, thus, shearing and napping are required. PA1 (11) The feel of the fabric may not be the same in longitudinal and latitudinal directions. PA1 (12) The appearence of the fabric becomes aged with repeated washing. PA1 a 30 to 300 denier yarn consisting mainly of continuous filaments, the mono-filament denier of which is 1.0 to 8.0 denier, used as warp; PA1 a 50 to 1,000 denier yarn of a bundle comprising continuous extra fine filaments, the mono-filament denier of which is 0.0001 to 0.4 denier, used as a first weft, and; PA1 a 30 to 300 denier yarn consisting mainly of continuous filaments, the mono-filament denier of which is 1.0 to 8.0 denier, used as a second weft; PA1 (a) weaving a fabric of a combination weave, wherein each thread of a first weft floats toward the adjoining 3 to 7 threads of warp, using as the warp a 30 to 300 denier yarn consisting mainly of continuous filaments, the mono-filament denier of which is 1.0 to 8.0 denier, using as the first weft a yarn of multi-core composite filaments producing a 50 to 1,000 denier yarn of a bundle comprising continuous extra fine filaments, the mono-filament denier of which is 0.0001 to 0.4 denier, and using as a second weft, a 30 to 300 denier yarn consisting mainly of continuous filaments, the mono-filament denier of which is 1.0 to 8.0 denier; PA1 (b) removing a component surrounding the cores of said multi-core composite filaments of the yarn constituting said first weft of the woven fabric; PA1 (c) subjecting the woven fabric to heat treatment, and; PA1 (d) subjecting the woven fabric to raising. PA1 (a) weaving a fabric of a combination weave, wherein each thread of a first weft floats toward the adjoining 3 to 7 threads of warp, using as the warp a 30 to 300 denier yarn consisting mainly of continuous filaments, the mono-filament denier of which is 1.0 to 8.0 denier, using as the first weft a 50 to 1.000 denier yarn of a bundle comprising continuous extra fine filaments, the mono-filament denier of which is 0.0001 to 0.4 denier, and as a second weft, a 30 to 300 denier yarn consisting mainly of continuous filaments, the mono-filament denier of which is 1.0 to 8.0 denier; PA1 (b) subjecting the woven fabric to heat treatment, and; PA1 (c) subjecting the woven fabric to raising.
The above drawbacks of the conventional raised woven fabric have not been eliminated despite many concerted efforts to do so.